Although
the influence of George Romero's Night
of the Living Deadis
undeniable, the film didn't produce anywhere near the number of
followers as its sequel, Dawn
of the Dead. One
of the few films that followed in Night
of the Living Dead's zombified
footsteps is Spanish filmmaker Jorge Grau's The
Living Dead at Manchester Morgue. Inspired
by Romero's unrelenting piece of work, Grau headed to the U.K. in
order to make a film that his producers hoped would be little more
than a colorized version of Night
of the Living Dead. What
the producers got instead was a film that stands on its own merits
and now ranks among the subgenre's finest due to an intelligent
screenplay, sharp cinematography, and shocking gore effects.
(read more...)

All
the right pieces are in place for Cannibal
Girls to be a
schlocky, comedic gem: a pre-Ghostbusters
Ivan Reitman at the helm, the fresh-faced tandem of Eugene Levy and
Andrea Martin in the lead roles working with a mostly impromptu
script, and a cheesy "warning bell" gimmick that alerts viewers
of a particularly gruesome death sequence. Yet the potential wallop
that Cannibal Girls
packs with its one-two punch of dark comedy and B-movie cheese never
quite hits the intended mark. Despite the simplicity suggested in its
title, the film's plot is unfocused at times and further mired with
pacing issues. Though the humor provides temporary reprieve from the
listless pace, the comedic bits are few and far between and typically
hit-or-miss. Suffice to say, Cannibal
Girls is
middle-of-the-road schlock horror.
(read more...)

From 1957
to 1973, Hammer Film Productions reached iconic status within the
genre of Gothic horror, with such entries as The Curse of
Frankenstein, The Horror of Dracula, The Mummy, and The Vampire
Loversamong others. However, the film that helped launch
Hammer's successful, 16-year run as the king of the horror box office
was, in fact, a contemporary science fiction film. Based on a 1953
BBC television serial written by Nigel Kneale, the superbly crafted
and acted The Quatermass Xperiment
put Hammer on the worldwide financial map and added to the sci-fi
lexicon a new scientist-hero, Professor Bernard Quatermass.

The story of Ebenezer's Scrooge
ghostly redemption has been the basis for countless adaptations,
spin-offs, and parodies. It has become a classic story of the
Yuletide tradition, and chances are there has already been a
bombardment of film versions that have played on television by the
time of this writing. At times it almost seems like the public
forgets that A Christmas Carol is actually a book, one that
happens to be written by one of the most well-respected artists to
have graced the English language. What's forgotten even more
frequently is that A Christmas Carol is at its core, past all
the sugar plums and rosy-cheeked merriness, a horror story.
(read more...)

Disheartened by a conversation he overheard at his local video rental store, graphic designer Eric Slager felt that word needed to get out on the awesomeness that is Vincent Price. So he created an awesome poster that presents the titles of some of Price's greatest works in the shape of the actor's face, garnished with his meticulously coiffed hair and waxed moustache. You can read the whole story at Slager's blog. It's a really cool piece of art for which we are happy to boost the signal.

Once
upon a time, a fella named Ridley Scott made a little film called
Alien.
It is universally agreed (or it should be if it isn't) that Alien
is only like the most awesome movie in the history of history, and a
wee bonny horror fan like myself had her brain broken on brown shag
carpeting in a living room in the Midwest many moons ago whilst
watching it.
That little girl horror fan grew up into a full-grown horror nerd,
but I have never stopped loving Alien.

And
then along came The
Terror Within.
This Roger Corman-produced Alien
wannabe has about twice the sleaze and half the scares, and while the
mostly educated, judgmental little feminist in me might have a
problem with that, I can't help but say the movie is a damn good
time-despite its many faults.
Of course, if you're going to enjoy it, you have to view it with the
right attitude.(read more...)

Those crazy fellas over at Mad Mad Mad Mad Movies have been throwing the Paul Naschy Blogathon all week long, finishing, well... today. Actually, in about a half-hour by my clock. However, that's just enough time to get my entry in, which I've been working on all week. It's a tribute to Paul Naschy's most enduring creation, the werewolf Waldemar Daninsky. In nine films released between 1968 and 1983, Daninsky dealt with the tragedy of lycanthropy, often while searching for someone who would love him enough to kill him. The video follows the general line of his story, backed by Arcade Fire's "Black Mirror."

For my money, The
Shining (1980) is the scariest movie ever made, and the book is
frightening as well. There are numerous reasons for this, but one of
the main ones is that damn woman in Room 237 (217 in the book). When
Danny foolishly enters the room, the film cuts away, and later it is
left ambiguous who put those marks on his neck. The film does this to
heighten the psychological tension that results from Wendy's
suspicion of Jack. The book, however, is pretty unambiguous. Danny
sees a dead, decaying woman rising from the bathtub and stumbles away
in terror; huddled against a wall, he closes his eyes and reminds
himself that she will go away in a little while, like a dream, when
he opens his eyes; and that ghosts, the residues left by the dead,
can't actually hurt living people. And then fingers begin to close
around his throat...
(read more...)

The 1988 remake of
Roger Corman's 1957 Not of This Earth originated in a bet
that exploitation director Jim Wynorski made with horror legend
Corman. Wynorski bet that he could shoot the film in 12 days, a bet which he won.
While Wynorski surely scores points for efficiency, he nevertheless
delivers a film that is lacking in most respects. A cheaply made
film does not necessarily have to look as cheap as this one
does, and it appears that Wynorski sacrificed thought and imagination
to get the film completed in so quick a time. While it does have
occasional interesting, or at least titillating, moments, ultimately
this is a boring film that displays contempt for its story and its
audience as well.

Ingrid Pitt, best remembered to horror
fans for her bloodthirsty and sexually charged roles in The
Vampire Lovers, Countess
Dracula, and The House
that Dripped Blood has died at
the age of 73. The BBC are reporting that she passed away in a London
hospital after collapsing several days ago.
(read more...)